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The European Union has declared travelling a human right, and is launching a scheme to subsidize vacations with taxpayers' dollars for those too poor to afford their own trips.

Antonio Tajani, the European Union commissioner for enterprise and industry, proposed a strategy that could cost European taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros a year, The Times of London reports.

"Travelling for tourism today is a right. The way we spend our holidays is a formidable indicator of our quality of life," Mr. Tajani told a group of ministers at The European Tourism Stakeholders Conference in Madrid on April 15. Mr. Tajani was appointed to his post by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The plan -- just who gets to enjoy the travel package has yet to be determined -- would see taxpayers footing some of the vacation bill for seniors, youths between the ages of 18 and 25, disabled people, and families facing "difficult social, financial or personal" circumstances. The disabled and elderly can also be accompanied by one other person. The EU and its taxpayers are slated to fund 30% of the cost of these tours, which could range from youth exploring abandoned factories and power plants in Manchester to retirees taking discount trips to Madrid, all in the name of cultural appreciation.

"The commission is literally considering paying people to go on holiday," Mats Persson, of pro-reform think-tank Open Europe, told Britain's News of the World. "In this economic climate, it's astonishing that the EU wants to bribe people with cheap holidays."

Mr. Tajani said the program will be piloted until 2013, and then fully launched.

Doesn't France basically shut down for several weeks every summer while people go on vacation? I remember this from a heat wave year, in which 800 people in France died from the heat. They were mostly elderly people whose young relatives had all gone off on vacation and forgot about them.

Americans often go to Paris in August and find it full of nothing but other Americans, and a lot of closed shops and restaurants. Even Berthillon, the store with the most fabulous ice cream I've ever tasted, is closed in August. When an ice cream shop goes on vacation in August, you KNOW they take it seriously.

"Today, [the American voter] chooses his rulers as he buys bootleg whiskey, never knowing precisely what he is getting, only certain that it is not what it pretends to be." - H.L. Mencken

Doesn't France basically shut down for several weeks every summer while people go on vacation? I remember this from a heat wave year, in which 800 people in France died from the heat. They were mostly elderly people whose young relatives had all gone off on vacation and forgot about them.

They get 5 weeks of paid vacation. Plus, when you hire an employee, it's for life in most cases as it is very difficult to fire one. Kinda like Union/government workers.

Mr. Tajani was appointed to his post by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Well, this kind of makes sense. Italy is a prime vacation destination. It's like California claiming that movie-going is a human right, and the US government (aka, taxpayers) should subsidize a monthly trip to the movies for underprivileged families.